Slider for slide fasteners

ABSTRACT

A slider provided with greater flange surfaces towards its exit end for guiding and holding the fastener stringers stably thereon during the assembling of the fastener chain through the slider, so as to prevent the fastener elements from becoming displaced at the exit end and caught in the guide channel of the slider.

nited States Patentv i 1 Yoshida [11] 3,822,443 July 9, 1974 SLKDER FOR SLIDE FASTENERS [75] Inventor: Hiroshi Yoshida, Uozu, Japan [73] Assignee: Yoshida Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha,

Tokyo, Japan 22 Filed: Sept. 18,1973

[211 Appl. No.: 398,392

30 1' Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 19, 1972 Japan 47-l09l26[U]v 52 us. c1.... 24/20515 R [51] Int. Cl A44b 19/26 [58] Field of Search 24/205.15 R, 205.15 E

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,901,803 9/1959 Porepp 24/205.l5 R

3,604,070 9/1971 Vorsteher 24/205.l5 R

Primary Examiner--Bemard A. Gelak Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Robert E. Burns; Emmanuel J. Lobato; Bruce Adams ABSTRACT A slider provided with greater flange surfaces towards 1 its exit end for guiding and holding the fastener stringers stably thereon during the assembling of the fastener chain through the slider, so as to prevent the fastener elements from becoming displaced at the exit end and'caught in the guide channel of the slider.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PAIENTED JUL 9:974

FIG

JFIG.4

FIG.3

1 SLIDER FOR SLIDE FASTENERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to sliders for slide fasteners and inparticular to such a slider which is to be applied to an unfinished fastener chain after the same is attached to a garment or similar article.

It is now a widely accepted practice of the manufacturers of ready-made garments and other articles to purchase an elongate slide fastener chain, instead of i using finished product lengths of slide fasteners, to cut the same into individual lengths determined in accordance with the shapeand size of the articles and to sew or otherwise secure such required lengths of the fastener chain to the articles. Other parts of the slide fasteners, such as top and bottom stops as well as sliders, are assembled in the course of the sewing operation. It has been found that -this practice results in a great saving in the manufacturing costs of such articles.

However,'the above practice has its own disadvantages with regard to the manipulation of the fastener stringers, which have been secured. separately to the edges of an opening in a desired article as aforesaid, through the guide channels in the slider so as to cause the rows of fastener elements on their opposed inner edges to interlock properlyin their correct relative positions. It requires the highest degree of dexterity and mental concentration on the part of .the operators to manually thread the two fastener stringers simultaneously through the slider without causing misalignmentor mismatching between the intermeshing rows of fastener elements.

Presently, such slider assembling operation is performed with use of a slider holder on which the slider is mounted up-side down with its pull tab vertically suspended. The two fastener stringers'secured to an. article are drawn one after the other through-an entrance end of the slider into the guide channel therein. The resultantly interlocked rows of fastener elements in wrong relative positions are then separated from each other so that the fastener elements are still held interlocked only at their portions within the slider which .is now located at one extremity of the fastener stringers. Thereafter, in order to readjust the relative positions of the mismeshed fastener elements, one of the stringers is forcibly pulled through the slider by taking advantage of the elastic deformation of the fastener elements (which are formed from a continuous plastic filamentary material into a coiled or meandering structure) so that both stringers are held in end-to-end alignment. Following this operation, it is necessary to draw the two stringers back towards an exit end of the slider so. that the latter 2 i fastener elements tend to rise or become displaced upwardly adjacent the exit end of the slider. Forcing the stringers in such a condition through the limited space in the slider would often result in permanently deformed or otherwise damaged elements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION With the above noteddifficulties of the prior art slider assembling operation in view, the present invention has for itsprincipal object to provide a novel slider for slide fasteners which incorporates structural features designed to permit fastener stringers, particularly those previously attached to a garment or the like, to be threaded through the slider with utmost ease and without causing the fastener elements to be caught in the guide channel of the slider.

This and other objects and advantages .of the invention will appear more apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings and FIG. 1 in particular, there is shown a slider 10 constructed in. accordance with the present invention. The slider 10 comprises a top wing 11 and a bottom wing 12 interconnected at one end by a neck 13', a bail l4 projecting upwardly from the top wing 11 and a pull tab 15 pivotally connected to the bail l4; Integral with the top wing 11 are spaced side flanges l6, l6 defining therebetween a substantially Y-shaped guide channel '17 for the passage of the rows of fastener elements E (FIG. 2)..

According to an importantfeature of the invention, the slider l0is substantially triangular in its plane with its exit end 18 taken as the base, as shown in FIG. 2.

- More specifically, the side flanges 16,16 are flared is positioned at or adjacent that point on the stringers The above described slider assembling operation,

however, has suffered fromthe drawback that the fastener elements are frequently caught in the guide channel in the slider as the fastener stringers are pulled therethrough in a fastener opening direction following the readjustment or correction of the relative positions of the misaligned fastener elements. This is due to the added weight of the fastenercarrying article which causes the fastener stringers to drape down verticallywith theresults that the coupling head portions of the towards the exit end 18 at which they reach maximum breadths B,B' so as to provide widened or enlarged guide rails 19,19 which serve to hold the opposed stringer tapes T,T of the fastener chain F (FIG. 3) horizontally flat thereon during the assembling of the slider 10 therethrough as. hereinafter described. Opposite to the exit end 18 of the slider 10 is an entranceend 20 through which the fastener stringers T,T are intro duced into the guide channel 17. v

It will be noted that the distance W between the side flanges l6 and 16' as measured from their outer peripheries at the exit-end 18, is greater than the corresponding distance W at the entrance end 20, contrary to the conventional type of slider.

Referring to FIG. 3, the slider 10 of the above described construction is mounted upside down, viz. with its top wing 11 face down, on a slider holder 21 and positioned for receiving the two stringers T,T' of the fastener chain F attached to a garment G. The two stringer tapes T,T' are manipulated one after the other through the entrance end 20 into the guide channel 17 of the slider 10, and the relative positions of the rows of fastener elements E are corrected in the manner previously described, followed by pulling the stringer tapes T,T back again through the slider in a fastener opening direction. In such instance, were it not for the structural features of the present invention, the fastener elements E on both or one of the stringers T(T') would rise at their coupling head portions Ea above normal horizontal line of engagement with those on the mating stringer T, and become caught at the exit end 18 under the influence of the added weight of the garment G as illustrated in FIG. 4.

This problem is eliminated according to the invention by the provision of the enlarged guide rails 19,19 of the side flanges 16,16 which extend laterally beyond the inner edges of the stringers T,T', to which the rows of elements E are secured, and over the tape web areas Ta,Ta' so as to hold the stringers flat against the guide rails 19,19 and prevent them from warping down under the influence of the load of the garment G, whereby the rows of elements E can be held in horizontal alignment and drawn smoothly through the exit end 18 into the guide channel 17 of the slider 10.

Increased breadth of the guide rail 19(19) particularly adjacent the exit end 18, where the slider 10 is most liable to displacement when mounted on the slider holder 21, further serves to retain the slider 10 stably in place on the slider holder 21 during the assembling operation.

What is claimed is:

1. A slide fastener slider having an entrance and an exit end which comprises a top and a bottom wing interconnected by a neck at one end, a bail projecting upwardly from said top wing, a pull tab pivotally connected to said bail, and spaced side flanges integral with said top wing and defining therebetween a substantially Y-shaped element guide channel, characterized in that the distance between said flanges as measured from their outer peripheries at the exit end is greater than the corresponding distance at the entrance end and in that said flanges are provided with tape guide rails having a width greatest at the exit end, rendering the contour of the slider body substantially triangular. 

1. A slide fastener slider having an entrance and an exit end which comprises a top and a bottom wing interconnected by a neck at one end, a bail projecting upwardly from said top wing, a pull tab pivotally connected to said bail, and spaced side flanges integral with said top wing and defining therebetween a substantially Y-shaped element guide channel, characterized in that the distance between said flanges as measured from their outer peripheries at the exit end is greater than the corresponding distance at the entrance end and in that said flanges are provided with tape guide rails having a width greatest at the exit end, rendering the contour of the slider body substantially triangular. 